OIAD-930
22 February 2024
J Wilson
[FYI request #25270 email]
Dear J Wilson
I refer to your request of 20 December 2023 to Taumata Arowai requesting the following under
the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“what chemicals can be found in New Zealand water -- in reservoirs, lakes, streams,
rivers, the sea, drinking and washing water. Please detail the chemicals and metals,
and their levels, found in New Zealand water over the last five years.
Are there metals in the water of any type or location, such as copper, mercury, lead,
cadmium, aluminium, barium, iron, strontium, graphene? What are the levels of these
or other metals in the water? Are they all removed from drinking water?
Are there any micro-plastics or nanoparticles found in the water of any type, and if so,
what are they, and what are they levels of them? If so, where do these items come
from?.”
On 24 January 2024, Taumata Arowai transferred the following part of your request to the
Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry) under section 14(b) of the Act, as the information
is believed to be held by the Ministry:
Are there any micro-plastics or nanoparticles found in the water of any type, and if so,
what are they, and what are they levels of them? If so, where do these items come
from?
The Ministry was not able to find any information relating specifically to “nanoparticles” after a
thorough search of our environmental indicators and reports. Therefore, I am refusing this part
of your request under section 18(g) of the Act as no information requested is held by the
Ministry and we have no grounds to believe it is held by any other agency.
The Ministry has identified several reports and environmental indicators produced by the
Ministry and Stats NZ under the Environmental Reporting Act 2015, which are publicly
available and address the part of your request relating to “micro-plastics”. Therefore, I am
partially refusing your request under section 18(d) of the Act, as the information requested is
publicly available.
Comprehensive reports on the state of the environment, including dedicated environmental
indicators, are available here:
• The Ministry’s Environmental Reporting:
https://environment.govt.nz/facts-and-
science/environmental-reporting/
• Stats NZ Environmental Indicators:
https:/ www.stats.govt.nz/tools/environmental-
indicators
As noted above, the Ministry and Stats NZ collaborate on environmental indicators, including
one covering "River water quality: heavy metals." This indicator specifically measures
dissolved copper and zinc concentrations in urban rivers and streams across Auckland,
Wellington, and Christchurch for the period 2015-2017. Key findings highlight that 24% of
monitored sites exceeded zinc guidelines, while 7% exceeded copper guidelines, potentially
posing harm to aquatic life.
More information is available here:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/river-water-quality-heavy-metals.
While a dedicated environmental indicator for microplastics doesn't exist, relevant information
can be found within published reports such as "Our freshwater 2023." You may be interested
to note that microplastics were detected in all urban streams surveyed, suggesting potential
transport via smaller streams. Additionally, plastic constituted the majority (68%) of lit er
collected in freshwater bodies through the Lit er Intelligence programme (2021-2022). More
information is available here:
https:/ environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/our-freshwater-
2023.pdf
You may also be interested to note the report produced by the Ministry and Stats NZ, titled
"Our marine environment 2022", which reports growing evidence of widespread microplastics
in marine ecosystems.
You can access the full report here:
https:/ environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/Our-marine-environment-2022.pdf
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Office of the Ombudsman of my
decision to withhold information relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of
the Act. The relevant details can be found on their website at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Please note that due to the public interest in our work the Ministry for the Environment
publishes responses to requests for official information on our
OIA responses page shortly
after the response has been sent. If you have any queries about this, please feel free to
contact our Ministerial Services team:
[email address].
Thank you once again for writing.
Yours sincerely
Electronically approved
Aaron Napier
Manager – Intelligence and Reporting
Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao
